Ex POW Bergdahl Returns to U.S. Army Active Duty

Sunday reports from Reuters and several other media outlets informed that ex POW Bergdahl was ready to return to serving as an active member of the U.S. Army on Monday. Bowe Bergdahl, a sergeant of the U.S. Army, was held by the Taliban as a prisoner of war for five years and eventually released in May 2014. Following his detainment, Bergdahl undertook therapy and counseling, for the purposes of which he was allowed to leave the army base. His treatment took several weeks. The therapy also included intensive questioning regarding the circumstances in which he disappeared in 2009.

Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl is now set to resume his duties in the army by serving at the Army North headquarters, which are located in Fort Sam Houston, in San Antonio, Texas. Several officials of the U.S. army confirmed the news, which was subsequently reported by the New York Times and CNN. It is unclear what his new assignment will be, but the U.K.’s Telegraph reports it will likely be a desk job. According to the same above cited officials, ex POW Bergdahl will be reintegrated “into Army life”. To this end, he will be living in the barracks and will be assisted by two soldiers, throughout his reintegration process.

At the same time, Bergdahl will be undergoing investigations, set to look into the circumstances surrounding his disappearance from the outpost in the Paktika province of Afghanistan, which allegedly led to his capture by the Taliban forces. The investigations will be helmed by Major General Kenneth R. Dahl. As of the time this article was written, the official version of the story on his disappearance says he was caught by enemy forces on June 30, 2009. On May 31, 2014, he was released in a prisoner swap. In return for Bergdahl’s release, the U.S. Army released five Taliban leaders who had been detained at the army prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Bergdahl’s release was initially celebrated by many across the United States. However, soon thereafter, a debate was sparked, regarding the conditions of his capture. The political debate also called the prisoner swap into question and posited that Bergdahl may have abandoned the outpost in Afghanistan at the time when he was captured. Though this remains unclear, the sergeant may have wandered off on his own at the time – at least according to a fact-finding investigation undertaken by U.S. Army officials in 2009, soon after Bergdahl’s disappearance. However, since his state of mind at the time could not be determined, it’s impossible to determine whether or not going AWOL was his true intent.